I've been thinking about this post and what to say. I have delayed in writing it for several reasons, not the least of which is that I don't want to write "downer" of a post.--and right now, things are bleak in my life. Very bleak. And well, I don't want for people to leave after reading feeling discouraged or with a bad taste in their mouth.
So what to do?
Right now I feel like anything I say will be tainted by my discouragement, sadness, and yes, hopelessness. My situation is hopeless when viewed by human eyes. But our souls have eyes, don't they? They see things that are true even when we can't see them with our emotions. These are the bedrocks of faith that I mentioned in the post prior to this one. These are the eyeglasses of faith that we put on when our mental view becomes clouded or darkened or blurred.
It is in times like this that God's Word is my anchor in a stormy sea. It is the life preserver I hang onto when tossed into a deep, turbulent ocean. Verses like Romans 8:28, ("And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.") and the verse I referred to in the prior blog (2 Cor. 12:29 NLT: "Each time he said, 'My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.' So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me") These two verses are almost over quoted and often applied wrongly but to a person who is drowning, it doesn't matter how many other people have used the life preserver...all that matters is that we have it now, in our private ocean, our private crisis.
Another verse that comforts me (oddly enough ) is Isaiah 45:7:
I create the light and make the darkness.
I send good times and bad times.
I, the LORD, am the one who does these things.
Now most people may not be comforted by this verse...who wants to worship a God who "sends bad times"? But there IS comfort to be had here. And that is this...when your suffering seems pointless...there is no peace to be attained in attributing it to bad luck. But when you find, as Job did that God is in the tornadoes (or "whirlwind"), you have to think that, if God wanted to test the faith in a man who is strong--a paragon of holiness--it would take more than small misfortune to prove anything to the enemy of our souls --or to take a man's faith to the next level.
When you know that it is from the loving hands of God, then you know that it cannot destroy you, even if it kills you! Trust the Almighty God, who in his Word is described as the personification of Love; the SOURCE and inventor of love (1 John 4:8, 16). God is defined by love and love is defined by God. And when you couple this knowledge with the verses above, you see that God will work it "to will and to act, according to his good purposes" (Phil 2:13 NIV). And this means that God is not a God of chaos--but of order and deliberate intent...all blanketed in his love for us.
Well this post has been a surprise to me. I began to write, thinking it would be a litany of my misfortune, and as I sat here and deliberated, God spoke to me and this post actually comforted me- the writer. I hope that in whatever tornado or rough surf you are encountering that you have found some comfort in these thoughts. I could probably write a book on this topic but this will have to do for now.
Keep marching.
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